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After graduating from Temple University in 1977,[1] Wade started his baseball career as an intern in the Philliespublic relations department. In 1977, he was named public relations assistant for the Astros and was promoted to public relations director in 1979, replacing Kenneth "Flannel" Mung. In 1981, he left Houston to become the public relations director for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he remained with that club for five seasons.

In 1986, Wade returned to Houston to work as an associate for Tal Smith Enterprises, a firm that has provided consulting services to 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs. The most recognized functions have been in the preparation of arbitration cases, the financial appraisal of franchise, contract negotiations and other baseball-related matters.

Wade worked for the company until May 5, 1989, when he rejoined the Phillies as assistant to the general manager. In 1995, he was promoted to assistant general manager, and he served in that role until assuming the general manager duties for Philadelphia in 1998.

Wade hired two managers during his tenure. He inherited Terry Francona when he was promoted, whom he fired after the 2000 season. Wade hired former Phillies shortstopLarry Bowa, who led the Phillies to their first winning season since winning the 1993 National League pennant in 2001, falling just two games short of the postseason. Bowa was fired with two games remaining in the 2004 season.

Wade was fired by the Phillies after the 2005 season due to the team's inability to make the postseason despite several seasons of high expectations. In Wade's last three seasons with the Phillies, the team missed the playoffs by margins of 5.0, 6.0, and 1.0 games respectively. In total, the Phillies compiled a record of 643 wins and 652 losses over Wade's eight-year tenure, with a winning percentage of .497. Although the Phillies showed marked improvement from the first three years of Wade's tenure (217–269, .447) to its next five years (426–383, .527), the team never exceeded 90 wins in any given season, instead winning exactly 86 or 88 games in four of Wade's last five seasons. Three years after being fired, the core players drafted and developed during his tenure brought Philadelphia its first World Series championship in 28 years.

On June 25, 2008, Wade was engaged in a dispute with Astros reliever Shawn Chacón. After a while, Chacon burst and grabbed Wade by the neck and threw him to the ground. The Astros suspended Chacon indefinitely. This event eventually led to his release. He has not played in Major League Baseball since.

On July 29, 2011, Wade traded All-Star right fielder Hunter Pence to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart, Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later (Domingo Santana). On July 30, 2011, he traded Bourn to the Braves for pitchers Juan Abreu and Brett Oberholtzer and center fielder Jordan Schafer.[5] The Astros ended the season with a record of 56–106, last in the majors.

On November 28, 2011, Wade was fired by new Astros owner Jim Crane.[6]